I LIIIIIIIIIVE!

More on that statement at the bottom of the page.

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On with Chapter 11!

"Our Legacy"

Part Three: Shadows.

Chapter 11: Unwelcome Visions.

Date: January 31, 2996

Time: 1820 hrs.

Location: Sovereign, Asteroid field bordering Eden Prime System.

Benezia listened intently at the intercepted communique her officers had managed to wrangle from the Alliance comm. channels

The news was not good.

"This is all you were able to get?" she inquired, slightly disbelieving.

One of her officers answered her. "Yes, Matriarch. The Humans communications channels are amazingly difficult to Listen in on," her face screwed into something akin to damaged pride as she continued. "Their technology is so different from ours that, honestly, I'm surprised we retrieved this much."

Benezia frowned at the situation. Humanity had caused a lot of reactions like that from the Asari. The species that had the privilege of being the most technologically advanced race prior to their reveal twenty-seven years ago during the First contact war. She was not surprised to see that one of her acolytes was frustrated.

At least they found this much. She attempted to cheer herself. But her thoughts turned sour when she thought of what their leader would think when he received the news.

Saren will not be pleased. She thought then turned to one of the communications officers. "Is Saren still in conference?"

The reply took little more than a few seconds in coming. "Yes Matriarch. The briefing room door is still sealed and the block is still in place."

After a brief sigh she spoke aloud but to no one in particular "Then I must inform him myself." Seeing the Council Spectre was not high on her to-do list at the current moment.

Her words brought worried looks to all the faces in the large room. usually Saren was a very level headed man, but recently, they had all begun to notice that he seemed to be… a bit out of sorts with himself, angrier, especially so after they had left Eden Prime a few short hour ago. Something must have happened on that planet that greatly distressed him. Whatever it had been she intended to discover tonight. But, until then it was her job to ensure the smooth operation of Saren's mission. This information was a game changer and she needed Saren to make a decision as to what to do about it.

Without any more delay Benezia turned on her heels and walked out of the command deck and started making her way into the bowls of the massive dreadnaught. As she passed other members of the Dreadnaught's crew she would smile, wave, or nod in greeting. Some of them were her followers, Asari that had come with her on her mission to ease Saren down a path of peace. After several distressing events in which he had been involved, Benezia had become increasingly sure of the fact that Saren was in sore need of a guiding hand. After she had joined him she found out that he did, in fact, need an advisor. But not in the ways that she had originally thought.

Now that she knew what the stakes were the actions Saren had taken in the past seemed much less, Heinous.

The rest of the crew was made up of stragglers that Saren had bound together for a common cause and, of course, several hundred Geth. When she passed one of those machines she would ignore it, not out of rudeness of course, but because every attempt to converse with the machines has been, so far, met only with indifference, or maybe, Disdain, would be the proper term. This was one of the greatest difficulties of joining Saren, working alongside the synthetics. Eventually they all managed to work together. But no matter how much time she spent near them she could not shake the feeling of trepidation she had every time she saw one.

On the long walk through the massive vessel her mind wandered and she mused about what she had thought when Saren had first brought her and her acolytes on board. Mind boggling, awesome, and glorious. Those were all thoughts running through their minds as they stepped into the ages-old Starcraft. Even before he told them it predated the Protheans they knew it was older than anything previously found. A feeling of agelessness permeated the Shadows encompassing the halls within the ship almost as if to walk through it's long shadowed halls was to take a step back in time to before the universe was born, to an age that was much more dangerous… and primal. Many of her acolytes thought of the shadowed and strangely angled walls as disturbing. Almost as if the shadows held the wandering souls of the long lost crew. But that was ridiculous. Benezia saw it as it was, a truly awesome work of art.

It makes one wonder as to who the designers were. She thought as she walked into the central level of the ship. Sovereign, measuring over three kilometers long was larger than any other ship built by the council races and, as such, it took a long time to go from one end of the ship to the other. It took nearly 10 minutes to reach her destination, the central ward of the ship. This is where the inaccessible core of the ship and the Control hub, which Saren had dubbed his personal quarters, was housed. The 23 rooms and quarters circling the core ward of the Sovereign was where Saren made most, if not all, of his command decisions and was where he met all of his 'guests'. During such meetings he could have the entire area sealed off from the rest of the universe so that no communications could come in or out. No one was allowed in this ward without express permission from Saren himself. No one save for Benezia. She and Saren had gotten very… close over the past few years that she had been working with him and he had given her clearance to enter his ward whenever she wished.

Such as right now. No doubt Saren would have been informed by the Ships VI that she had entered his private quarters and he would be prepared for her intrusion of his briefing. It wasn't more than a minute after she entered the central hub that she found herself standing in front of the door to Saren's briefing room. She took a slow breath then waved a hand over the control and it opened with a swish. As the door closed behind her she saw Saren sitting at the octagonal table in the center of the room facing the rear wall. He was speaking with someone over the comm. By the way his voice sounded he must have been human.

"—lost them in the markets but one of our people caught them sneaking into the docks so we're watching all outgoing ships for any sign of them. looks like they're trying to get off world. Maybe get to the Citadel to get the information to the Council."

"I don't want excuses, William." Saren snapped in reply without looking at who entered the room. "Just find them. And once you do you will contact me before you take Any form of action. Do I make myself clear?"

There was a long pause before the voice replied to Saren's coldly dispatched order in a tone just as dark and menacing… "Crystal." There was a beep as the mysterious speaker ended the call after that.

There was a long pause as Saren sighed then began typing something into his console. "So," He began calmly after a few moments respite. "What is so important that it could not wait another ten minutes for me to invite you myself?" she thought she noticed a slight strain to his voice, but given the state of his last conversation she believed that it was duly necessary.

As he spun in his chair to face the Matriarch she found he was smiling. Benezia almost sighed in relief until she noticed the smile did not reach his eyes.

"What's wrong?" concern colored her voice.

Saren was silent for a few moments before he dropped his gaze with a sigh and massaged his temples. "Something that can be dealt with later." Then, to her unconvinced raised brow he replied. "It's been a hard day, and speaking of it now will not change anything. I have a great deal of work to get done so I would like to know what seemed so important to warrant your near interruption to my very important meeting."

This surprised Benezia. Normally, Saren was very open with her. He never hardened against her… Not when they were alone as they currently were. Something very bad must have happened on the Human world to put Saren into this state. This knowledge made her curious as well as immensely concerned for Saren's welfare. She didn't say anything, allowing her eyes to say everything she wanted them to. His eyes dropped slightly and he shook his head.

Not now. She understood the message, but that didn't mean she had to like it… but she would drop it for now.

Professionally she began, "My communications specialists have retrieved some very disturbing news from the Human communications channels."

The plates above Saren's eyes rose slightly but he remained quiet. "The fleet that was sent to Eden Prime has been wiped out. Eden City and the settlements have been destroyed, but one of the humans from the Normandy's crew managed to use the Beacon before the Geth managed to destroy it."

The look that crossed his eyes seemed to make the temperature in the room drop twenty degrees. "Where is this Human now?"

A strange feeling coursed itself through her body as that stare bored into her. Fear… a feeling that only recently had been introduced between herself and Saren. She felt as if Saren was only one wrong word away from leaping from his chair and using those talons, which Turians are so well known for, to tear her to shreds. This was ridiculous of course. This was Saren. A week ago she had been sure of this. But now it only added to her concern for his welfare. She had to find out what was going on. She cared far too much for him to allow him to ruin himself like this… when she opened her mouth she was about to once again express her worry, but right as she was about to speak, her voice stopped dead in her throat and instead she said, "On board the USAS Normandy, comatose." Then her mind supplied, Now is not the time for such things.

He turned from her back to his console and pressed a key then spoke with barely restrained fury. "Prime, get your three nearest fleets into battle ready status. I want the Entire Eden Prime system reduced to rubble by the end of the day. Be sure that the Normandy-" he paused and the plates on his face shifted in movements showing his worry. "Make sure no one survives." He added a moment later without a quiver in his voice.

A mechanical voiced answered him, "As you Will, Herald."

"Keep me informed on your progress." Seran added before closing the communique then turned to Benezia with the same angry look. "Get us to Virmire as soon as Possible. We have much to do."

Surprised by the vehemence in the command, Benezia opened her mouth to contradict it but as her lips parted to speak her voice stopped…

She couldn't remember what it was she was going to say. It was here that Benezia realized that most of her memory from the last few minutes was a little fuzzy. She couldn't actually remember any specific thing that had happened in the last few minutes. But she knew how to read an order. She had been officially dismissed so without a word she turned on her heals and walked out of the room as Saren returned to operating his terminal.

As soon as she left the central ward of the ship she contacted the Bridge and told the captain to set a heading for Saren's base in the Hoc System. The walk back to the flight deck of Sovereign was uneventful and it wasn't until she made the half way mark before she realized what had just occurred. When she did she stopped dead in her tracks, horrified.

Saren had just given an order to have the entire Eden Prime system, the space station, the off-planet colonies the ships in orbit, as wells as the civilians and non-combatants, all to be eradicated. Because one soldier managed to get through to use the Beacon to receive a mental blob of information that he would never be able to interpret, let alone know what to do with. In anger he had just issued an order of extermination of an entire star system, and she had left… without saying a word. Her face paled as she realized the enormity of what Saren had just ordered done and in an unusual mix of self-loathing and righteous fury she turned on her heels to make her way back to Saren to demand he explain himself. As she began to turn she lost her footing and collapsed to the ground. She caught herself and tried to stand again, but she could not. When she tried to stand she felt an oppressing force press her back to the floor.

She looked about the hall around her and found herself alone. Alone in the long dark hall with no witnesses save for the shadows writhing on the oddly angled walls and across the floors… shadows she was now beginning to see as slightly disturbing…

Why can't I stand? She thought, she would have said it but she was suddenly short of breath. Several moments later she felt a warm sensation on her cheek and she watched something fall from her face to the floor. With a dull splash she realized it was a tear. Moments later, another tear followed the first, then another. In moments a steady stream of tears flowed from her eyes to the cold plated floor to coalesce into a small puddle on the seamless black metal floor. Silent sobs wracked her body as she struggled to take shelter against the wall. "How could Saren do this?" she gasped out between sobs.

How could he do this… Why… "Why would you do this Saren?... Why…" she felt a pain in her chest that was all too familiar as she felt her heart break. She had trusted Saren, she Knew Saren. The Saren she knew was not an angry man, was not even a bad man. He was a good man... He was not unstable… Saren was not a Murderer. Which was exactly what this imminent slaughter was. What could drive him to totally obliterate an entire star system because one man may have possibly received a message that he shouldn't even be able to understand?

She had trusted him. His entire crew had trusted him. And he had betrayed that trust. Somehow he had found a way to fog their minds and allow them to agree, or rather, to just go along with his war. Somehow he had turned them all into willing slaves to his cause. And she, Benezia, had been at the forefront of it all. And she didn't do a thing to stop it.

Terror gripped her heart as she realized what she had been a part of over the past several years as memories of past events came to the forefront of her mind. Saren had lied, cheated, and stolen many advanced technologies and very dangerous secrets and killed hundreds of people merely for weeding out the truth of the story behind the disappearances of said secrets and technology and the good people that had tried to keep it safe. He had lied to the council on many occasions to hide the information that he had about the reapers when he should have informed the council as soon as he had learned of them.

Saren had betrayed them… all of them. With each and every decision his betrayal had gotten steadily worse.

But… I agreed with those decisions… the thought whispered in the back of her consciousness before she even knew what it was that she had thought.

Benezia started at the unbelievable thought. Where had that come from? No. Saren was wrong! Anger and frustration bit at her conscience. She could not just let Saren doom the people of that system to death because one little facet of his insane plan didn't fall through. She had to stop this nonsense. She had to do something to save the millions of innocent people in that system. And after several moments of sitting still, quietly against the wall, breathing deeply she had decided she was going to do just that.

That is, until she had a deeply troubling realization…

He didn't manipulate her.

Deep down… she felt that she did agree with those decisions. If I couldn't believe what Saren had told me about the Reapers then how would the council react?... With nothing less than 'absolute' denial. Given the fact that Saren had found Sovereign just outside of Geth space the council would insist that this was a plot devised by the Geth to distract the galaxy from they're soon in coming war to wipe out all organics. And if Saren had told the Alliance, they would have had him locked up for trying to get them to spend resources on a non-existent threat that would allow they're enemies within the Council and the Covenant to attack their flanks freely without fear of re-percussion. And that action would have started a war between the Alliance and the Council.

There was no way around the fact. Saren had acted as he must. The only people in the galaxy that would do anything to stop the Reapers, until Saren found undeniable proof of their existence, would be them.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement. But when she turned her head to see what had caused it she saw nothing but the shadows lining the hallway.

Then a thought invaded her confused jumble of thoughts. It was necessary…

She saw movement again as a warm tingle started up her spine but she decided to ignore it.

It was all necessary. But if he did this to us, how could I ever trust him again. He lied to all of us…

But I must… her own voice echoed within her mind. Benezia couldn't swear to it but she was certain that the shadows in the hall she sat in moved around her. She ignore them again, they were just a figment of her overactive imagination. No matter how disturbing they continued to seem, Shadows do not move.

I must, what? She asked herself, her pain dissipating into curiosity.

I must Trust Saren…

Why should I trust him in this? She asked herself. This is not only madness. It is BUTCHERY!

But before she even knew she was doing it she answered her own question. Not madness. Necessary...

The shadows moved again. She was sure of it now. The shadows were definitely moving. In less than a moment she realized that this should be terrifying. But she wasn't scared. She was beyond the ability to feel fear, her mind was worn and her heart was torn. In fact, she felt nothing at all… nothing except… a hum, a deep rooted bass gong, resounding within the deepest recesses of her soul. The hum… it built up to an enormous yet silent crescendo that filled her body with a warm pleasant feeling. A feeling of peace and warmth and contentment that she hasn't felt in over one hundred years.

Benezia almost cried with the feelings intensity, and with her mind so muddled by the pain and sorrow of the last several minutes she had no will to fight the sensations running through her thoughts and up and down her body. It took several moments for her to find her voice again. When she did she asked in a voice barely over a whisper, "Why, why is it necessary?"

Because, Saren said it was so.

Doubts and frustration flooded into her thoughts at what he ordered reared in response till they were interrupted again, but this time, it wasn't her voice, it was a swarm of light whispers.

I trusted Saren on Ma'Naan when I first met the Geth. I trusted him when he ordered the creation of the Rachni army. I trusted him when he told me of the coming of the Reapers. And I trusted him when he told me of the Prothean's weapon against them. I must trust him now. But more than that. I have more than nine centuries of experience on which to lean on to pull me through hard decisions that are necessary of those in command positions. Yet Saren has less than four decades under his belt. He needs my support and comfort. Now so more than ever.

For just a moment, Benezia doubted the truth of that statement. And as she began thinking on those past events she started doubting those events as well. Something was not right. Her mind clouded over again as the whispers came back and this time they brought the memories with them. Each and every event she had doubted Saren on. First and foremost was the alliance with the Geth; AI were dangerous, evil, and absolutely pitiless of Organics. But Saren had shown her otherwise.

She did not believe a word he told her when he said a race of sentient God-like machines were hell bent on destroying the galaxy and everything in it, but he had again proven himself when after scrap after scrap of evidence he provided as well as the information on board the Sovereign itself, had forced her to recognize the truth.

Each and every time that she was sure that Saren was absolutely wrong; he had merely been showing her how little she actually knew.

Saren hasn't misled yet. Why would he now? After the thought she felt a sense of satisfaction deep within her soul that resonated like the deep hum.

Yes… I must trust Saren, he will not lead us astray. All will be made clear in time .

With a feeling of giddiness like that of a young child that just pleased their mother she smiled to herself and thought. I will trust…

The shadows collapsed on the empty hall she was sitting in and all thought of deviation from Saren's orders were stripped from her mind and as the warmth and comfort of the shadow encompassed her a new feeling overcame her. Confidence… Saren would not lead her astray. She would follow him to the ends of the universe and beyond if he would but ask her to do so.

As she basked in the wonderful touch of the shadow she heard a voice. She thought it was the whispers again but after a moment it repeated itself, but louder.

Benezia?...

The shadows evaporated and she found herself sitting in the hall again. Without the comfortable compression of the shadows she was slightly disoriented. With a slight rise of her head she looked around her and saw the shadows were where they were supposed to be, on the ceilings and sweeping along the floors. With a shake of her head she cleared her thoughts and a hand placed itself lightly on her shoulder. At the touch Benezia turned with a start and saw one of her acolytes kneeling beside her. A look of concern colored her aquamarine features.

"Benezia? Are you well?"

It took Benezia another moment for her head to fully clear and when it did she smiled lightly to the young Maiden. "Of Course, Ven. Everything is just fine. I just got a little light headed and had to sit down for a few moments."

The young Asari looked unconvinced. "Are you certain Matriarch? You look rather pale…"

Benezia shook her head and waved her off as she helped her to stand. "Nonsense, Ven. I am fine." The young Maiden seemed to want to argue with the elder Asari, but she silenced herself. After muttering farewells the two Asari parted ways and Benezia changed direction for her own quarters. The flight crew could handle taking the Sovereign to their destination. The young Maiden was right, Benezia did feel rather drowsy. While she was on her way to meditate in peace she couldn't help the feeling of rightness that came over her. Everything is working out perfectly. She thought happily. With Saren at the head of this glorious operation they could not help but to succeed. Everything was as it should be…

Yet… within a miniscule corner of her mind, well hidden from the rest of her consciousness; a chain of thoughts, memories, and emotions determined to remain free of outside influence shuddered. They could not help but disagree…

John couldn't remember what had happened. All he knew was the entire world was screaming… Screaming and in Pain.

For what reason, John didn't know. The entire world right now was too garbled for him to make anything out. The images that his mind was filled with didn't make any sort or form of sense. First there was a synthetic growth. Pulsing… breathing… Machine and flesh. Bonded. One and the same. One made from the other. Which one, the image didn't show, only that they were one. Then the images were flooded over with a chaotic farrago of indecipherable colors and emotions. Then came images… memories… like watching a vid, they were of shadows and indecipherable figures… all of them running, Dying, and screaming, from… something ... A nightmare… except this wasn't a nightmare…

The same images over and over cycled again and again within his scuttled mind. First a dozen times. Then twenty, then a hundred… Always they came with new sounds and sights, but always with the exact same screams. How many times it repeated John didn't know. He had lost all sense of reality and time in this place. Each new scene brought with it a new setting, and new people running and dying… there were trees in this one. At least if trees were dark and dead with purple-black leaves oozing a thick viscous pulp. Then there were rocks, cliffs bleeding thick black ichor-like blood. Then there was sand… endless sand. Then there was water, an oceans worth, then there was nothing but an endless wasteland filled with the dead.

It was very… confusing, and taxing, trying to follow along while dealing with the screaming and the writhing and the dying. Each was saturating the universe around him. Filling his mind and soul with a veritable flood of emotions and feelings that were so dark and torn and terrible that there was nothing he could do but be swept into the tempest. He didn't know what was going on with his body, he had lost track of that what felt like an eternity ago. There was just too much to deal with as it was and his mind was simply incapable of keeping track of it all.

For Eons… or maybe nanoseconds… there was really no way to know how long, because here it all seemed to blend together anyway, he just drowned in the current of thoughts, the Screaming, the Rending and the tearing, the crushing, and the dying, and every other thing he could not begin to describe until it grew into a far to awesome crescendo of clashing colors, sounds, emotions, and terrors. Within them he felt a message. And it wasn't hidden. It was in fact the only thing that all the intruding images, screams, and emotions in his mind could in fact agree on, and they all screamed it. An important message, a message he fully understood. Because this message was not written or bred of spoken word… it was a feeling; one single terror gripped feeling. And that feeling was simple. Even simpler given he had felt it before. It was a feeling that was shared by all that were hunted, a feeling that all prey knew. It was a simple message that could be given life in three simple words, three words that were enough to fill anything that heard them with dread.

They are coming…

Soooo.

Yah. 2 years. I feel kinda bad about that. I was meaning to continue this after I posted last chapter, but stuff happened, and I got lost in them, then got sidetracked then got too swamped in other things. I cannot apologize enough for the long absence. I am eternally sorry. And I have no really good reason for it other than I just got lost. And for that I beg your forgiveness…

Now lets try to get some important stuff out of the way for future updates. As of now. My focus is on this story. I will not attempt to give you an update speed. But most assuredly, it will be far quicker than 2 years :]

Firstly: When I got back onto my profile a little over a month ago I started reading over this story and I found that I didn't really like how I structured the info in the beginning chapters. I wish I had written them differently, but that cannot be changed now without a very heavy rewrite of those chapters, and that is something I really don't want to do right now. So instead of doing that I will just move on from where I left off and try to continue on the same path I have set for myself.

Second: when I did get to reading again, I did a major redo of the timeline, most of the things I've set in our legacy are still there, but I have elongated the timeline and I have added a good bit, so in one of the next several updates I will try to get a timeline of "Our Legacy" out as an intermission or something of the like. That way we can all see what has happened up to this point in My AU. And hopefully it will get me into the mood to revamp the first several chapters and update the info in the remainders.

There's probably more, but that is all I can think of mentioning at the moment.

Again thanks so much for reading.

PS: if any of your are interested in Betaing or know any Good betas than please let me know.

Thanks guys. Peace Out!